Arctic Yearbook 2015 - Page 220

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Arctic Yearbook 2015
of UNDRIP might change. Koivurova and Stepien (2011) are of the opinion that “the Canadian
position that the UN Declaration does not codify customary international law will be called into
question”.
This first part of the article has shown that not only legal fragmentation but also legal interpretation
is at stake, and that the effective implementation of existing regulations and norms is challenging. The
next part deals with the interactions between national level and regional level, where legal pluralism
and multi-level governance are at stake in the governance of offshore oil and gas activities.
National and regional levels
Aboriginal self-government as a means to institutionalize an Aboriginal voice in the Canadian federal
system can create complex government arrangements (Rodon 2014). Multi-level governance in the
Canadian territories involves several jurisdictions (local, territorial/provincial and federal). Inuit rights
are well-anchored in Canadian law, in the Constitution under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act
which recognises the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada,
through Supreme Court decisions according to which the Crown has a duty to consult (Haida and
Taku River decisions in 2004, the Mikisew Cree decision in 2005, and in the more recent decisions of
Rio Tinto and Little Salmon Carmacks 2010).9 Inuit rights are also protected through settled land claim
agreements which are treaty based. The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) for example
provides in its preamble that the parties agree on the objectives “to provide for certainty and clarity
of rights to ownership and use of lands and resources and of rights for Inuit to participate in decisionmaking concerning F